The Assignment
' |image= |series= |production=40510-504 |producer(s)= |story= Robert Lederman and David R. Long |script= Bradley Thompson and David Weddle |director= Allan Kroeker |imdbref=tt0708615 |guests=Rosalind Chao as Keiko, Hana Hatae as Molly, Max Grodénchik as Rom and Rosie Malek-Yonan as Tekoa |previous_production=Trials and Tribble-ations |next_production=Let He Who Is Without Sin |episode=DS9 S05E05 |airdate= 28 October 1996 |previous_release=Nor the Battle to the Strong |next_release= Trials and Tribble-ations |story_date(s)=Unknown (2373) |group="N"}} |previous_story= Nor the Battle to the Strong |next_story= (DS9) Let He Who Is Without Sin (Overall) Sacred Ground }} =Summary= Meeting Keiko upon her return from Bajor, O'Brien is shocked when his wife says, in her own voice, that she is really an entity that has taken possession of Keiko's body and is holding her hostage. She states O'Brien must reconfigure some communication and sensor relays on the station or Keiko will be killed, and sends Keiko into a convulsion to prove her point. Seeing no other alternative and assured no one will be harmed, O'Brien reluctantly agrees to the entity's demands. Since he must pretend everything is normal, O'Brien attends the birthday party Keiko planned for him. The entity fools their friends, so no one suspects anything. The next morning, she orders him to recalibrate and sequence the impulse response filters in the subspace communication emitters. O'Brien isn't sure this complicated assignment won't hurt the station, and decides to go to Captain Sisko. As he walks toward the captain on the Promenade, he suddenly hears his wife call him, and looks up to see Keiko, her eyes filled with tears, leaning over the railing on the upper level. Before his horrified eyes, she plummets to the Promenade. Keiko was lucky — she was left with no permanent injuries. O'Brien hurries in to see her, and winds up speaking to the entity still inside her. It warns him again to not tell Sisko, and says he has thirteen hours to complete his task. With no idea how he will finish in time by himself, O'Brien swears Rom to secrecy and puts him to work on the project. At three that morning, a worried Dax approaches O'Brien. She inadvertently discovered O'Brien's alterations and is led to the conclusion that there is a saboteur. Sisko calls an emergency meeting, where O'Brien must pretend to know nothing. Keiko interrupts the meeting and reminds O'Brien that he is running out of time. When Odo brings in Rom for questioning, O'Brien uses the opportunity to finish his work. But Rom refuses to speak to anyone but O'Brien — alone. This forces O'Brien back to Security. Rom secretly tells O'Brien he has done as he's been told and hasn't revealed anything. He only has one question. Why are they recalibrating the deflector in order to kill the aliens within the wormhole? The question brings it all together for O'Brien. Their recalibrations will focus a beam at the wormhole that, while harmless to humanoids, will be deadly to the aliens inside it. Rom reminds O'Brien that these aliens are the Bajoran Prophets, and is told that, according to Bajoran legend, Pah-wraiths are the enemies of those Prophets. Keiko visited the mythical home of the Pah-wraiths during her trip to Bajor — and it is apparently one of them who is using her body. O'Brien finishes his job, but is confronted by the suspicious Odo. Unable to lose any more time, O'Brien knocks him out, then arranges to meet the Keiko entity in a runabout. They take off and target the center of the wormhole. Sisko orders O'Brien back, but he activates the beam. Instead of firing into the wormhole, however, the beam blasts the runabout. Keiko is hit with a massive shock and falls to the ground. However, she awakens free of the Pah-wraith. Having saved his wife, O'Brien then returns to the station ready to explain his bizarre behavior to Sisko and the crew. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Chris Booton on Friday, December 11, 1998 - 10:57 pm: Why doesent the pah'raith/Keiko just get into a runabout and fly into the wormhole or enter the temple of the prophets the same way that one in Dukat did. I'd think it want to kill the prophets itself rather then let O'Brien do it for it Seniram The Pah wraith needs to utilise the skills and knowledge of the host and, as far as I’m aware, Keiko doesn’t know how to operate a runabout. # Kevin S on Monday, May 10, 1999 - 5:38 pm: Looking back on this episode now that the Final Chapter has begun, isn't it really unlikely that the Bajorans would just let Keiko waltz in and out the caves that hold the pagh wraiths? Even Winn and Dukat don't know how to gain access to the caves at the moment? Seniram Maybe tourists are allowed into certain areas of the caves as part of an official tour. # Mike Ram on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - 8:46 pm: Why didn't Keiko's eyes glow red? LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 11:14 am: It's possible the Pah Wraiths can control certain manifestations of their appearance. The one in The Reckoning obviously had no compunction about appearing out in the open. The one who possessed Keiko did. # How did the Pah'Wraith get free without the "Text Of The Costa-Mojin"?LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 11:14 am: Who said you needed the Text? The chronitons killed the Wraith. # O'Brien plays the cabbagehead in this one, with ROM telling him about the chroniton beams and how it would affect the Prophets.LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 11:14 am: Rom was merely reminding O'Brien, because as O'Brien said, he had been too distracted by the events of the past few days to think it through clearly. # Rom orders specific breakfasts from Quark, Quark taps a few buttons and they are replicated. Only a few buttons for such complex orders? There could be set menu options, with some buttons producing certain combinations, similar to set meals on cafe menues. # Why come to Quark's and pay for food if there are replicators that make stuff for free at the Replimat? The specific breakfasts may not be available from the Replimat. ''LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 11:14 am:''Where has it ever been established that the Replimat is free? Stuff there presumably has to be paid for, just like everything else. It would be a better question to ask why pay at Quark's when you can get it for free at the replicator in your own quarters, (although even then, it could be argued that people come to the Promenade to not be alone, and that even crew replicators are rationed.) # O'Brien knocks out Odo with one backhand, yet in many other shows Odo "goos up" when hit. I know he wasn't expecting the blow, but still, if he's a changeling why would he be knocked out? Is his brain really in his head? I thought it would be distributed throughout his body, and he would be basically hollow inside. KAM on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 5:06 am: Mike, I believe that at this point Odo had been changed into a human by the Founders. Seniram Exactly – Bashir examined Odo at the end of Broken Link, and discovered a full set of internal organs, which presumably includes a brain inside the head. # constanze on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 10:23 am: I guess there is a really good reason why O'Brien doesn't contact Sisko aka the Prophet, Dax, Bashir by sending an email/a computerfile to their personal station, with a security code, to inform them of the problem? ' Too risky – the Pah wraith controlling Keiko would easily find out if Miles even attempted it, thus making the problem worse.' # The Pah wraith tells Miles that it will need only a fraction of a second to cause bleeding of the brain and kill Keiko. Later, we see O'Brien asking the computer about how long it would take for a containment field, a nerve gas, and a phaser. However, when at the dramatic showdown the chroniton beam hits Keiko inside the shuttle, she writhes around for several seconds! Does the wraith have no control about Keikos body during all that trashing around? Electron on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 8:10 pm: Probably. The chronitons were not exactly good for him and maybe he had no more conscious control over Keikos body. The other "weapons" mentioned were to be used against Keiko and would have given him enough time. # So, these false prophets seem to be the Bajoran equivalent of the devil, living in Hell (without the sinners, I guess) and people go to Hell for sightseeing? Tourists are strange, but I wonder why the Bajorans let them go there. Wouldn't they rather close of the entrance to hell, so nothing goes in, nothing comes out? Electron on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 8:10 pm: The Fire Caves always seemed to be a major tourist attraction (when mentioned in previous episodes). Strange folks, those Bajorans. =Notes= Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine